Wise County sent four contestants to the National High School Finals Rodeo in Farmington, N.M., a week ago and although none of the four was satisfied with their performance, tie down roper Chris Demases of Boyd came home with an 11th place overall average out of 137 competitors.
Ryan White of Paradise, who competed in pole bending, said although she didn't compete "as well as I had hoped," she said the weeklong event was fun and "it was good just to be there."
High school contestants came from across the nation to compete. Utah won the team trophy, with Texas finishing second.
Demases recorded the most outstanding performance for Wise County representatives. In the first round of tie down roping, he was 23rd with a time of 11.463. He followed that with a second round score of 9.965, placing him 18th in that round. He finished 13th in the final round on Saturday, July 26 with a time of 12.655. His average score of 34.083 gave him a top 20 finish, just one place shy of the top 10, 11th overall.
White was 21st with a 20.48 following the first round of pole bending. Her second round score of 30.28 placed her 141st. Her overall average was 50.76, placing her 125th among 178 contestants.
Her classmate, C.J. Kerr, had a string of bad luck in steer wrestling, failing to register a score.
Jake Cobb of Decatur and his team roping partner, Ethan Fox of Bonham, recorded their only time, a 13.735 in the first round, giving them a final placing of 72nd among 95 contestants.
